Paula Gomez, the executive director of the Brownsville Community Health Center, is fighting to expand Medicaid to the uninsured in the Rio Grande Valley.

Courtesy of the Brownsville Community Health Center

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Originally published on May 22, 2013 8:08 am

When the sun rises over the Rio Grande Valley, the cries of the urracas — blackbirds — perched on the tops of palm trees swell to a noisy, unavoidable cacophony. That is also the strategy, it could be said, that local officials, health care providers and frustrated valley residents are trying to use to persuade Gov. Rick Perry and state Republican lawmakers to set aside their opposition and expand Medicaid, a key provision of the federal health law.

The Rio Grande Valley has a load of troubles: high unemployment, low-paying jobs, warring Mexican cartels, a meager tax base and legions of people without health insurance. While many of those woes seem incurable, expanding Medicaid to the region's uninsured is, to Paula Gomez, who runs several local health clinics, a no-brainer.

"I think if we're not ready, if Texas doesn't buy in in the next three months, shame on us," she says.

Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation — 1 in 4 Texans has no health coverage — and the rate in the Rio Grande Valley is even higher. Medicaid is closed to anyone earning more than $196 a month, leaving many working adults ineligible and without coverage.

Under the health law, the federal government would pay the entire cost of the expansion for the first three years, then 90 percent in subsequent years. As it stands, Texas would have to spend about $1 billion a year over the next three years, say Democrats, to receive $27 billion in federal matching funds.

But Gov. Perry says Texas can ill afford to expand Medicaid, and he doesn't trust that the federal government will pay its promised share. At a news conference last month, he blasted Obamacare's Medicaid provisions:

"Seems to me an appropriate April Fool's Day event, makes it perfect to discuss something as foolish as Medicaid expansion, and to remind everyone that Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration's attempt to force us into the fool's errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system."

For now, uninsured patients in the Rio Grande Valley pay what they can for basic medical care, but specialty care — to follow up on a lump in the breast, for example — is almost always out of reach without some type of insurance, including Medicaid, according to Dr. Henry Imperial, the Brownsville Community Health Center's medical director. "Once you diagnose a cancer, then what? How are you going to give me chemotherapy or surgery or radiation therapy?" he asks.

Hospitals in Texas end up with millions in unpaid bills, and the counties, by state law, have to provide basic medical care to destitute residents. That has led a number of counties in the Rio Grande Valley — and elsewhere — to pass resolutions supporting the Medicaid expansion.

For local Republicans, that mild act of defiance against a powerful governor — who is opposed to every provision in the federal health law — can seem like political suicide. It's not something they're eager to draw attention to.

"It's contrary to what the [GOP] leadership in Austin is recommending, but we thought it was important enough to take a position," says Republican Carlos Cascos, the county's top elected official.

State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, a Democrat from Brownsville, faces daunting odds in trying to persuade the conservative Republicans who control the Legislature to buck Perry and approve a bill to expand Medicaid in Texas.

Lucio says he's not sure what effect, if any, the resolutions by county officials, including Republicans like Cascos, are having. There is ample pessimism here in Brownsville that lawmakers 350 miles away in Austin will ever understand life in the Valley.

But because there is no hard deadline for when Texas or any other state has to sign up for the Medicaid expansion, health clinic director Paula Gomez is pressing on. She says she still remembers fighting the state to get drinkable water in the Rio Grande Valley, and she'll patiently fight this war too.

As a federal health care law is implemented around the country, states face an important decision: whether to expand Medicaid, the insurance program for the poor. The law calls for an expansion, and some of the law's more vocal Republican opponents - including the governors of Arizona, Ohio and New Jersey - say they intend to follow through.

But that hasn't swayed Governor Rick Perry of Texas, whose state has the highest rate of uninsured in the country. He says Texas won't expand Medicaid. He and his supporters argue, among other things, that they don't believe Congress will pay its share for an expansion, leaving a state like Texas in a financial bind. We're going to pay a visit now to a place where Medicaid has played a big role: the Rio Grande Valley and blue-collar border towns like Brownsville, Texas. Sarah Varney reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CHIRPING)

SARAH VARNEY, BYLINE: A warm, tropical breeze signals the start of a spring morning in Brownsville.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CHIRPING)

VARNEY: Noisy black birds called urracas blanket the tops of palm trees. The roads are lined with trucks headed to the local shipyard. At the southernmost tip of Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley - closer to Mexico than the state capital of Austin - Brownsville is awake and on the move, and, according to Mike Siefert, a former Catholic priest and longtime resident, largely forgotten.

MIKE SIEFERT: I think one of the huge frustrations about living in the Rio Grande Valley, even though we're about one-and-a-half-million people and the poorest region of a very wealthy state, is that we are totally ignored.

VARNEY: The Rio Grande Valley has a load of troubles: high unemployment, low-paying jobs, warring Mexican cartels, a meager tax base and legions of people without health insurance. While many of those woes seem incurable, expanding Medicaid to the region's uninsured is to Paula Gomez - who runs several local health clinics - a no-brainer.

PAULA GOMEZ: I think if we're not ready, if Texas doesn't buy in in the next three months, shame on us, because that means we're - I'm going to say it. I think we're derelict in our responsibilities to our residents in this great state.

VARNEY: Gomez pulls up on her computer a list of some 4,000 uninsured patients who would be eligible, based on their income, for Medicaid, should Texas opt in as part of the Affordable Care Act. Gomez says for safety net clinics like hers, those added Medicaid dollars would go a long way.

GOMEZ: You're talking huge bucks. It's over a million dollars that we would be able to then turn around and expand and give more services to.

VARNEY: But Governor Perry says Texas can ill-afford to expand Medicaid, and he doesn't trust that Congress will pay its promised share. He held a press conference last month reaffirming his position.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: Seems to me an appropriate April's Fools Day event to - makes it perfect to discuss something as foolish as Medicaid expansion, and to remind everyone that Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration's attempt to force us into this fool's errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system.

VARNEY: A spokesperson says Governor Perry's position has not changed, and maintains that the expansion is fiscally irresponsible. For now, those uninsured patients in the Rio Grande Valley pay what they can for basic medical care. But specialty care - to follow up on a lump in the breast, for example - is almost always out of reach without some type of insurance, including Medicaid, says Dr. Henry Imperial, the clinic's medical director.

HENRY IMPERIAL: Once you diagnose a cancer, then what? How are you going to give me chemotherapy or surgery or radiation therapy? It goes out of our hand.

VARNEY: Imperial says he often plies fellow doctors with beer to see his patients.

IMPERIAL: Oh, Henry, it's one of your patients again? What is it this time? It's just tough. You know, I cannot do appendectomy. I cannot operate on gall bladders. I need a surgeon.

VARNEY: Hospitals in Texas end up with millions in unpaid bills, and the counties, by state law, have to provide basic medical care to destitute residents. That's led a number of counties in the Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere in Texas to pass resolutions supporting the Medicaid expansion. For local Republicans, that mild act of defiance against a powerful governor - who is opposed to every provision in the federal health law - can seem like political suicide. And it's not something they're eager to draw attention to. At the old Cameron County Courthouse in Brownsville, the county's top elected official - Carlos Cascos, a Republican - is deferential to Governor Perry. But he says the amount of money that would come into the county is a big number.

CARLOS CASCOS: It's contrary to what the leadership in Austin is recommending, but we thought it was important enough to take a position just to show the governor and the administration that, you know, there is support out there from the local municipalities, the local county governments and other officials.

VARNEY: Under the health law, the federal government would pay the entire cost of the expansion for the first three years, and 90 percent in subsequent years. By one estimate from the Center for Public Policy Priorities, Cameron County would see nearly $200 million from the Medicaid expansion in the first few years. Other urban counties would see much more.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE EDDIE LUCIO III: We have to not only speak loudly, but justify what we're doing and why we need these investment dollars in South Texas, or really throughout our state.

VARNEY: State Representative Eddie Lucio III is a Democrat from Brownsville. He faces daunting odds in trying to persuade the conservative Republicans who control the legislature to buck Governor Perry and approve a bill to expand Medicaid in Texas. Lucio says he's not sure what effect, if any, the resolutions by county officials - including Republicans like Carlos Cascos - are having.

LUCIO: I don't know what the play is. I don't know if he's hanging on, meaning the governor, to the very end.

VARNEY: There is ample pessimism here in Brownsville that lawmakers 350 miles away in Austin will ever understand life in the Valley.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VARNEY: Back at Paula Gomez's clinic in the waiting room at the Brownsville Community Health Center, Mark Buitron, age 22, is not amused by the antics on a Spanish morning television show. Buitron has model good looks and wears his green varsity letter jacket. He's got the flu, he thinks. He's sweating and looks miserable.

MARK BUITRON: I was feeling ill today, so I couldn't go to work.

VARNEY: Buitron works 44 hours a week at the port of Brownsville tearing apart old cruise ships with no health insurance and no sick pay. His yearly income is less than $15,000. Buitron tells me he's been to the hospital once and received an $11,000 bill that he's never been able to pay. He's exactly the type of person the Medicaid expansion was meant to target: working adults who can't afford private insurance.

BUITRON: If I get sick in the future, I mean, how much are they going to charge me then?

VARNEY: Buitron leans back into his chair, stuffs his hands into his pockets and waits for his name to be called. For today's visit, he'll pay $25 in cash. Paul Gomez says the clinic often has to send patients with serious illnesses to the emergency room, knowing they'll get bills they can't pay.

GOMEZ: I can blame Perry all day long, but you know what? He's just one man. I think we've got a whole mess of other people that should be pushing, and he's not God in this state. He's just a governor.

VARNEY: There is no hard deadline for when Texas or any other state has to sign up for the Medicaid expansion. Gomez says she still remembers fighting the state to get potable water in the Rio Grande Valley, and she'll patiently fight this war, too. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Varney.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: Sarah Varney is a reporter with Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service. Now, also on the program this morning, we're following the story of a massive tornado in Oklahoma that killed dozens of people. We'll be bringing you the latest throughout the program here on MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.